


my laurel

by HerDiamonds



Series: my first kiss (went a little like this) [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Green Arrow and the Canaries (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25949533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerDiamonds/pseuds/HerDiamonds
Summary: “Hm?” She watches Laurel hesitate for a moment. It makes her think that she had read this all wrong and that maybe Laurel did feel the same way about her. That maybe this was it. That Laurel was going to close the distance between them and press her lips to hers and kiss her until she felt weak in the knees.orthe one where dinah and laurel finally fucking talk about the extreme survivor’s guilt™ that we all know laurel has… and maybe, just maybe there’s something more behind everything...
Relationships: Dinah Drake/Earth-2 Laurel Lance
Series: my first kiss (went a little like this) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1733590
Comments: 15
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey, hi, hello, I posted a shitty version of this on twitter because the clown chat *cough cough* ell (breakthesewallsdown) *cough* tweeted a video of laurel and Quentin talking the other week and I just popped into our gc and screamed this entire fic out it was like super long and choppy and I promised everyone that once my month of chaos and hell was over I would edit this into a real fic™ so, here I am! enjoy!
> 
> also yes I realized ive posted three fics in like the past idk 2 hours but just be grateful and dont worry about my excessive amount of energy drink consumption or lack of good sleeping habits. I’ll survive just leave me nice comments about how much u love this fic and that I got my motivation to write back not the fact that its 130am 🙃 shhhh.

Dinah could clearly see that something had been bothering Laurel since she’d arrived in 2040, maybe even before then, but her memory still remained a bit hazy at times. It takes her a week to finally get a moment to corner Laurel to talk to her, pull her out of her shell. 

They were friends, and maybe more than that, because Dinah cared, so very much about the blonde, even with everything the two of them had been through. Even through all the heartache and terror they’d caused each other. Dinah liked to think that she knew Laurel a lot more than most people. 

But it still takes a while to get Laurel to open up.

Which is why it was pushing three in the morning when she made her way down the spiral staircase after hearing Laurel cry out in the middle of the night from presumably a nightmare. Dinah shook her awake, gently, before asking her if she’d wanted to talk about it. 

She just didn’t expect it to blow up into such an ordeal. 

She didn't expect Laurel to have given her such a cold shoulder and continue to ignore her for the rest of the morning, locking herself away inside herself. 

It hurt. 

Especially being shut out by the person she had feelings for. 

It took all of six hours for Laurel’s continued silent treatment to finally crack. 

While Dinah is unloading the dishwasher and Laurel is staring out of the large window in the middle of the loft apartment. 

“I shouldn’t be here.” 

It’s soft, and Dinah nearly misses the words, but she catches them, freezing in place and stopping her motions from putting a stack of plates into the cupboard. 

“After Oliver died and restarted the universe, I know I shouldn’t have been brought back. I talked to Quentin before I left 2020, and I shouldn’t be here. I’m not even from this earth. And Oliver hated me. A lot of people do. I shouldn’t even be here.” 

Dinah swallows, finally putting the stack of plates into the cabinet before walking out of the kitchen towards Laurel. “I wasn’t there, but when I first heard everything was restarted and some of those who were once dead were now back alive, I panicked.” Dinah voiced, gaining Laurel’s attention as the blonde turned away from the window, facing her. “I knew everyone had to be waiting to see if their Laurel was coming back but what about me? What about  _ my _ Laurel? What about the fear I had about whether or not I was going to wake up and my Laurel was there. Everyone accepted the terms and facts with their Laurel being gone, but my Laurel wasn’t. She was here and I thank god or whatever higher power that is out there that my Laurel is  _ still _ here, not theirs.”

Laurel looks up at Dinah, her brows furrowed in confusion. “Yours?” She asks with teary eyes and a flicker of hope in her heart.

“Yeah...mine.” Dinah says hesitantly. 

“Oh.” Laurel muses and Dinah looks away. “How...how—” she pauses, taking in a deep shaky breath as Dinah looks up at her, curiosity piqued. 

“Hm?” Dinah hums in response. 

“How can I be your Laurel when all I've done is hurt you and brought you pain and suffering?” Laurel asks tentatively. She’s not exactly sure if she wants to hear the answer but she knows she needs to. 

Dinah takes a deep breath.

She knew this conversation was coming and was  _ long _ overdue.

She pauses for a minute again. “You–you changed?” She says, unsure if those were even the right words but Laurel still stares at her intently, focused on what she’s saying. “You apologized, that one day in my office and I saw you trying so hard. Felicity had seen such a light in you that was burning to be brighter and she just kept pestering all of us to see you how she saw you. It was hard. It was  _ so _ hard, especially for me, especially after you—” 

“You don’t have to, D.” Laurel interrupts as the tears start to well up in her eyes.

“No, Laurel I do, because I don't want you thinking I still hold this against you.” Dinah explains. 

“You don’t?” Laurel’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“No, not anymore.” She says sincerely. “I did, for a while, but I forgive you now. I have for a while and I'm sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. You deserved to know that. Felicity kept pushing us all to see the good in you. And I did. I finally did, all the way back at the plea deal you posed for Oliver.” Laurel’s eyes widen for a split second before she scoffs in disbelief. 

“I wasn't good then.” 

“You were.” Dinah reassures. “And by then I had seen the light in you which is why I was still so harsh. I was still upset by everything. I wanted to be mad with you but I couldn’t. Everything Felicity was saying was true. And even though you still faltered, I still believed in you after that. I did see that lightness burning in you, getting brighter every day.”

“I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve your forgiveness.” Laurel denies, trying to walk away but Dinah's hand on her wrist stops her. 

“You do. And the fact that you’re here, in 2040, for me, means that I was right to believe in you. So yeah, I thank whatever higher power there is out there that  _ my _ Laurel came back when Oliver Queen restarted the universe and I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you that.” 

Laurel stares down at the fingers wrapped around her wrist, not letting go even after Dinah goes silent, almost like Dinah is afraid to let her go. “Is–is that all you wanted to tell me?” She still doesn’t look up, still afraid of what Dinah might say or not say. 

“Y–yeah.” Dinah hesitates. It’s not everything. The  _ I love you _ still lies unspoken on her lips, but she’s too afraid to speak those words just yet. 

She lets Laurel's hand slip out of her grasp and Laurel lets her hand fall back to her side. “Okay.” 

“Okay.” She echoes quietly. “I–I should get going… down to the bar.” Dinah excuses herself, heading for the elevator. 

“D, wait—” Laurel stops her. 

Dinah turns back as her heart races in her chest. Laurel’s finally looking directly at her again and for a second she wishes she wouldn’t, but she’s grateful for Laurel's gaze. “Hm?” She watches Laurel hesitate for a moment. It makes her think that she  _ had _ read this all wrong and that maybe Laurel  _ did _ feel the same way about her. That maybe this was it. That Laurel was going to close the distance between them and press her lips to hers and kiss her until she felt weak in the knees.

Laurel takes a few steps forward, still leaving room between them but she still holds Dinah's gaze as she takes Dinah's hands in her own, making Dinah's heart races in her chest.

“Thank you,” Laurel says, squeezing Dinah's hands lightly in her own, “for forgiving me, even when I didn’t deserve it. For letting me crash on your couch. For wanting me here. For being the… best friend I could ever ask for.” She says, pulling dinah into an unexpected hug. 

Laurel pulls back, wiping tears out from under her eyes and Dinah pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth, biting down, not trusting herself to speak right now. She just nods before turning and stepping onto the open elevator, putting distance between them.

She watches as the doors close, putting a barrier between her and Laurel before letting the tears finally fall. 

It was fine before, when she still had hope that maybe, just maybe Laurel felt the same way about her. Now it just hurt so much more that she knew Laurel didn’t hold the same feelings for her.

****  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What did you mean?” She asks and Dinah raises a perfectly manicured brow. “When you said _your Laurel _. What did you mean?”__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sike! did y’all really think I’d end the fic like that? 
> 
> ok but real talk, I had ended it like that originally to begin with in our groupchat and then Ell and Shauna threatened to block me and hit me and so I was forced against my will to continue it and now y’all have the second part.

  
  


Laurel watches as the elevator doors slide shut and she swears she sees a tear slip down Dinah's cheek but her own tears, threatening to spill, blur her vision. 

She never meant to let all her worries out on Dinah like that, but the little box she kept everything locked in was finally spilling out and Dinah was just there. 

And she never expected to hear Dinah forgiving her, saying she was glad it was _her_ _Laurel_ that returned. What had that even meant _—her Laurel?_

As the words left Dinah's lips the first time, it didn’t do anything except make Laurel's heart race in her chest, beating so hard against her rib cage in hopes that it meant what she had hoped it meant. That Dinah had had feelings for her, but Laurel tamped those feelings down, knowing that after everything she put Dinah through, she’d never love Laurel in the same way Laurel loved her. 

So she quickly pushed those thoughts away for a moment before thanking Dinah, catching her before she left. But after hearing all the soft words Dinah had said, she thought maybe she had gotten it wrong? Maybe Dinah did feel the same way. 

Laurel needed to do it. She had to tell dinah how she felt. She was going to do this. 

But then Dinah had turned, and those emerald green eyes bore so far into her soul it made her panic. So, she quickly decided on thanking Dinah for being a great friend before hugging her and watching her walk away, putting even more distance between them than ever before. 

It killed her.

And now here she was, beating herself up about the fact that she was in love with her friend? Roommate? Coworker? Partner? She was in love with Dinah and it was slowly tearing her apart, especially when she didn’t even know what Dinah had meant by  _ her Laurel.  _

She shoves her hands into her back pockets, waiting for the elevator to return before stepping on and heading down to the bar, determination locked in her eyes.

The doors slide open and she finds Dinah wiping down the empty bar top with a rag.

While the adrenaline and courage are still coursing through her, Laurel makes her way across the empty bar to the bar top and places her hand softly on top of Dinah’s, stopping her.

Dinah's eyes meet hers and it makes her heart race, but she’s still determined to get the answers she needs. “What did you mean?” She asks and Dinah raises a perfectly manicured brow. “When you said  _ your Laurel.  _ What did you mean?” 

Dinah looks back down at the rag. “I didn't know the other Laurel. I came to Star City after she was gone. You–you’re the only Laurel I’ve known.” She deflects, not making eye contact. 

“That’s it?” Laurel asks hesitantly. 

Dinah’s silent for a long moment, and she pulls her hand away from Laurel’s, continuing her work, wiping down the bar as Laurel slides onto a stool, watching her work.

“What else do you want me to say, Laurel?” Dinah asks after a few silent moments. 

“I–I don’t know D,  _ is _ that all you have to say?” She presses, staring back at Dinah, the two of them refusing to break first. 

It’s like a wild west stand off, both pushing the other to break and concede first, but neither ready to let the dam break yet. 

Dinah finally breaks, tearing her eyes away from Laurel’s first, looking down defeatedly. “What else do you want me to say, Laurel?” She repeats with a huff. “I'm just—” She pauses. 

Was she wrong?  _ Did _ Laurel actually feel the same way about her that she did for Laurel? She couldn’t have, not after the conversation they just had upstairs. 

“Just what, D?” Laurel pushes. 

She can't be the first to break. She needs to know Dinah feels the same way as her before she says anything else, because the ball needs to be in Dinah's court, especially after...after what Laurel had put her through. She shouldn’t get to call the shots in their _ —whatever _ they were. 

“I’m glad you’re here, with me.” Dinah finally settles on. 

Laurel opens her mouth like she’s going to say something but she stops, closing her mouth and settling on a curt nod. 

She got it. 

She got what Dinah was saying and she just nods. 

“Yeah. me too.” She says softly. 

Dinah continues her work as Laurel just watches her, drying wine glasses now and lining them up on the hanging shelves behind the bar. 

Her back is towards Laurel at the very moment as she holds a wine glass in one hand and the rag in the other, taking a deep breath. She can feel Laurel’s eyes on her as something in her left her with a feeling of uneasiness. Combined with the look in Laurel's eyes saying something different every time she spoke. Dinah took in a deep breath as she opened her mouth to speak.

“I’m really glad you’re here with me—”

“You’ve said that already—” Laurel interrupts her just as she finally has the courage to talk. 

Laurel's voice stops her and she turns around, setting the wine glass and rag down in front of laurel before walking out from behind the bar, walking right past Laurel at this point in a hurry. 

Laurel spins on the barstool, unsure of what was happening but following Dinah's movements, confused as she watches her sit down on the bench at the piano, lining her fingers up with the ivory keys. 

The familiar notes wafts through the bar and Laurel smiles at the tune, the same song Dinah was playing the first time she walked through her bar and seemed to play every time Laurel was in the bar with her. 

The tune softens as Dinah's voice speaks up. “You know, the first time you walked through my bar, I looked right at you and you made me sing the wrong words to this song. And ever since that day, I've never once sung the correct words because I let my heart speak for me that first time, and I never went back. So Laurel, please listen.” She pleads, picking up the melody again.

And Laurel does. As Dinah's intent fingers press into the keys harder, playing the song louder as her sultry voice flows, the lyrics grace Laurel's ears as she really listens to the words. 

_ Sunny, _

_ Yesterday my life was filled with rain. _

_ Sunny, _

_ You smiled at me and really eased the pain. _

_ The dark days are gone, _

_ And the bright days are here, _

_ My Sunny one shines so sincere _

_ Oh sunny one so true, _

_ I'm in love with you. _

Laurel’s breath hitches in her throat. 

Dinah barely makes it through that first verse before Laurel’s crossing the bar, the words  _ finally _ hitting her  _ so _ hard. She crosses the bar in as few steps as she could possibly manage before she’s crashing into Dinah. 

She’s cupping Dinah's soft cheeks in her palms and finally, after one last stare and a small smile forming in Dinah's lips, because  _ her Laurel _ finally gets it, and  _ her Laurel _ really does share those same feelings as her.  _ Her Laurel _ tucks her head down, pressing her lips to Dinah’s. 

And everything finally feels right. Everything is good. 

_ Her Laurel _ whispers, “I’m in love with you too.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> you can come yell at me on twitter at @gayvasharpe if u have a problem but please know Ell is to blame here thank you and goodnight.


End file.
